Driving a Formula One car is no joke. Drivers are virtual superhumans as they have to control these very powerful machines. Team Lotus driver Karun Chandhok tells DNA what it takes to be racing in F1. Excerpts:
Driving a race car and road car are different. But how different is it actually and does it take a lot of physical effort?
To start off, an F1 car is completely different from a road car. The things we do in a race car can never ever be tried in a road car.
From a physical aspect, the demands for a race driver are really high. Fitness for motorsport is a fairly underestimated, misunderstood and generally ignored subject among the general public. Many people I meet, including my own family, often ask me why I train for hours and hours when all I have to do is sit in a car and go round and round. It is tough to even begin to describe the amount of effort it takes to drive a serious racing car.
Over the years, I realised that racing needed a huge commitment from the driver to perform at the highest level and have worked extra hard to achieve that. Overall, fitness in motorsport has become a very serious subject now and team bosses and engineers study the driver’s fitness levels very seriously before making a decision on hiring them.
Is the cockpit comfortable?
It is very important for us to be comfortable while sitting in the cockpit. Every driver’s seat is made specifically for him and the pedals and steering wheel are also made to measure. This is why seat-fitting at the beginning of the season is really important. It ensures that the seating position is perfect for us. Seating is different for almost all drivers and it is very rare to see us using anybody else’s seat.
Drivers talk about G-force while driving. What actually happens to your body?
G-force is the pressure that gravity exerts on an object when it is accelerating relative to freefall. We drivers experience serious G-force when we corner, brake or accelerate. The fitness required is quite comprehensive in that you need strong cardio-vascular endurance combined with strength, particularly in the upper body. Most importantly, you need strong neck muscles. We experience forces four and a half times our own weight, albeit for short periods of time. The force comes on slowly and peaks in the middle of the corner.
There are so many knobs and switches on the steering wheel. How do you keep your eyes on the road and also make changes on the steering wheel?
There are about 28-30 buttons and switches on the steering wheel and for some reason it keeps increasing every year. Maybe, the engineers are getting cleverer! This year, some teams have the additional KERS and DRS buttons as well. The more time you get in the car the more comfortable you are with all the buttons on the steering wheel. It is like typing on a keyboard. The more you use it, the more comfortable you are with it and you know where everything is. F1 is such a quick sport that everything is a split-second decision. So, it is important to focus all the time to ensure we can drive and use these buttons at the same time.
There is so much talk of downforce. Do you really feel more grip when the car is on a high downforce setting?
Yes, absolutely! The G-forces are all relative to cornering speeds. Obviously, with more downforce you corner faster and can feel more G-force.
In hot climatic conditions, drivers sweat a lot and lose 2-3 Kg of body weight. Does that tire you out?
In all conditions, races do take a toll but that’s why we train. For sure, in hotter conditions it tires you out a little more as the fluid loss is very high. But I always try and prepare as much as possible by drinking loads of fluid in the week leading up to the race weekend. I also try and prepare by training in the heat. For example, when I am back home in Chennai, I cycle 60-70km at 12 in the afternoon when it is the hottest.
What does a career in top-flight racing entail apart from speed?
Some 110 flights a year mixed with lots of hotels, rental cars, at home for maybe 10 days a month. It is a tough life but this is my passion and has been my life since I was 16. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
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